A broad belt of steppe, oasis valleys, and river basins north of the Hindu Kush and south of the Kazakh plains. Includes Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan, and the southern fringe of Kazakhstan. Harsh, arid plateaus force settlement into irrigated oases—Samarkand, Bukhara, Merv—linking the region to Iran, India, China, and the steppe through caravan routes. Geography produces hybrid civilizations: part nomadic, part urban, positioned at the crossroads of every Eurasian power cycle. This is the historic heart of Sogdiana and Khwarezm, the Silk Road’s connective tissue.
